BJP retained the Choryasi assembly constituency of Surat as its woman candidate, Jankhana Patel, defeated Congress candidate, Dhansukh Rajput, by a comfortable margin of 43,438 votes in the by-poll for the seat.

Jankhana Patel (35) received 90,089 votes while Rajput (57) got 46,651 votes, as per the final figures released by election officials after counting ended here Sunday afternoon.

Out of the total 1.48 lakh votes polled on January 21, 1,254 went in favour of NOTA (None Of The Above).

The bypoll was necessitated following death of BJP MLA, Raja Patel, of dengue in August last year. BJP had fielded the deceased MLA’s daughter, Jankhana, whereas, Congress had fielded Rajput who is a native of Uttar Pradesh and a builder by profession.

Apart from these two, 24 independent candidates were also in the poll fray out of which at least 18 candidates were Muslim.

The local BJP had decided not to take out victory procession owing to the recent deaths of three minor school children of Surat Municipal Corporation School Board in a mishap at Keshod.

Voting for the election was held on January 21and it witnessed low voters’ turnout at 37.98 per cent.

After her victory, Jankhana Patel said, “I thank the voters of the Choryasi seat and the BJP organization team members who had worked hard (for me) which led to the victory. Without their support this could not have been possible. This victory also shows the love of voters of Choryasi seat (for us).”

Congress candidate Dhansukh Rajput said, “I accept the defeat..we worked hard, but the victory shows the love for late Raja Patel among the voters. We would not be disheartened by this defeat and will work hard in coming days to win back confidence of the voters.”